


Tightrope

by OverlyObsessed223



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bookstores, Coffee Shops, Diners, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, M/M, Mystery, Normal Life, Schizophrenia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:27:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29704725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OverlyObsessed223/pseuds/OverlyObsessed223
Summary: Diego’s a cop going steady with his girlfriend, Ben has a bookstore, Five is a thirteen-year-old child genius getting his masters in physics, Vanya is a proud violinist, Allison is a successful actress, director, and mother, and Luther is a stunt double who has moved on and away from his father's abuse.As for Klaus... well, Klaus is just trying to figure out what the hell is going on here before it’s too late.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves/Eudora Patch, Klaus Hargreeves & Everyone, Klaus Hargreeves & Hazel, Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz, Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 15
Kudos: 82





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!!! Okay, so I'm totally aware I have a couple other WIPs to update, and I fully intend on continuing those in the very near future, but to be honest, this fic has taken up the majority of my time. This idea has been in the back of my mind for quite some time now, and I finally decided to open the Doc and write it. I have around 30k written for this fic so far, so expect steadier updates on this one. 
> 
> I am so excited about this fic, it's been my passion project for the last month and I'm so excited to finally share this with y'all. I hope you come to enjoy reading as much as I've enjoyed writing it!

_ Bang bang bang! _

Klaus snaps his eyes open to someone knocking on his door,  _ loudly.  _ Annoyed by the disturbance to his precious beauty sleep, he groans at a volume the person behind the door can surely hear and rolls over, yanking his duvet above his head. Waking up is the last thing he wants to do right now, and so his eyelids begin to slip closed once more.

“Klaus, get up!” Ben calls from the other side of the door. “Diego’s gonna be here in ten minutes, and I don’t think you want him waking you up.”

All things considered, Ben is probably right. Klaus still hasn’t forgotten the last time Diego came up to their apartment and physically yanked him out of bed, making for a very unpleasant rest of the morning. Klaus doesn’t often get visibly angry, but morning time always has the potential to send sparks of rage through his chest if even the slightest thing isn’t done exactly his way. 

So with a heavy sigh, Klaus pushes the covers away from his body and drags himself out of bed. The hardwood floor is cold against his bare feet and sends a shiver up his spine; he’s been meaning to buy a rug for his room for when his bedroom floor doesn’t have a layer of dirty clothes on it, but it keeps slipping his mind. Perhaps that’s what he should do on his lunch break today.

He always plans to get shit done during his lunch break, but unsurprisingly, it never ends up happening. 

Klaus pulls on his favorite pair of lace-up jeans and a tie-dye crop top, dancing through his room and jumping over piles of clothes and pillows, rummaging around for his converse. He manages to find one shoe hiding under his bed, but he can’t find the other and is very aware of his limited time. 

“Ben, have you seen my other converse?” Klaus asks distractedly as he pulls his bedroom door open, waving the shoe he’s already found in the air for reference. 

Ben, in his blue button-up and nice blue jeans, looks up from the watch on the wrist and gives the rest of the apartment a sweeping glance. 

The apartment is clean, simply because Ben lives here too. Klaus can guarantee that the pillows on the couch would not be fluffed, the living room run would not be vacuumed, and the trash certainly wouldn’t have been taken out if Klaus lived here on his own. No, without Ben the paint on the walls would likely be stained and chipped, there would be trash everywhere, and the fridge would only be stocked with booze and Go-Gurt.

Klaus’s messy room sits in stark contrast with the rest of the apartment. 

“No, I haven’t,” Ben says, his brows furrowed. “Can’t you wear another pair of shoes today? You have, like, a million pairs in your closet.”

“Another pair of shoes? Really, Ben?” Klaus rolls his eyes at the absurd suggestion. Everyone knows this outfit goes best with his white converse, and any other footwear would look plain wrong. If he has to wear only one shoe and go shoeless on the other then dammit that’s what he’s going to do. 

“Yeah, silly me,” Ben says sarcastically, used to Klaus’ many antics and attitudes. “Hurry up, will you? We’ve gotta leave soon.”

It’s only after his brain suggests that maybe Ben is lying about knowing the whereabouts of his shoe does he find it, hidden in the space between his dresser and the wall. With a huge grin on his face, Klaus pulls on the other shoe and runs to meet Ben by the door. After waiting for Ben to lock the door behind them, they make their way down the stairs towards the street, where Diego’s car is just pulling up to the curb. 

“Wow, on time for once, are we?” Diego cocks a brow as Klaus opens the door to the backseat and climbs inside. He’s wearing his cop uniform, badge, gun, and all the shiny bells and whistles. Diego always wears his uniform proudly, having worked hard to get to where he is today. Honestly, Klaus doubted his brother would even make it through the police academy given his issues with authority that stem from their dear father’s abuse, but he was glad to be proven wrong. 

“Oh, piss off,” Klaus huffs, crossing his arms loosely against his chest. “My morning routine is long and difficult, I’ll have you know.”

“You’d probably take half as long to get ready if you just kept your room clean,” Ben says from the front passenger seat, clicking his seatbelt into place. 

Diego snorts at the concept of Klaus keeping anything in his life clean and put together. 

“Maybe, but if a serial killer breaks into my room they’ll trip on my shit and break their neck,” Klaus points out. He considers it to be a foolproof plan. Really, if a serial killer went into Ben’s pristine room first he’d immediately be a goner. 

“Klaus, only you would think about shit as insane as that,” Diego says, pulling away from the curb and merging onto the main road. 

“That’s my specialty,” Klaus grins.

As Diego drives, Klaus watches out the window, the city buildings passing by in blurs. The only time Klaus has been outside the city is the one time they flew to New York to see Allison on Broadway, and even that was only a one-night event because Diego had to be back at work the very next day. The city is familiar, but not in a boring way.

There’s nowhere he’d rather be than here. 

* * *

Griddy’s Doughnuts never fails to feel like home. 

Growing up in a broken house with an emotionless, abusive father, the nights where they snuck out as small children to Griddy’s were what kept the six of them afloat. Crammed into a booth at the back of the shop, they would order huge plates of doughnuts and large milkshakes and devour it all. Diego would throw pieces of doughnut at Luther’s head when the latter boy wasn’t looking, Klaus and Allison would whisper and giggle to each other about various topics, and Ben discussed his favorite books with sweet, shy Vanya. Looking back, they did often get rowdy and antsy, but for some reason, the waitress never kicked them out. 

Maybe she got a glimpse of the bruises on their skin and felt sorry for them. 

Despite it being a busy hour for Griddy’s, they manage to claim the booth they always sat in as kids. Diego and Ben sit on one side of the table while Klaus takes the other side, enjoying the space and the ability to spread out. The waitress, an older woman with a kind smile, quickly walks over to take their order. Diego only orders a cup of coffee, not one for the sweet, carb-loaded food served at Griddy’s—though, Klaus suspects his brother uses that as an excuse and he’s really trying to avoid the “cop’s love doughnuts'' stereotype. 

Ben orders a single doughnut, and Klaus requests a plate of waffles with extra syrup. 

“Are Vanya and Five meeting us here?” Ben asks Diego, who shakes his head behind the mug of coffee raised to his lips. 

“The kid’s got class today,” Diego informs. “And Vanya’s got lessons, then rehearsal.”

At least once a week, the Hargreeves siblings who remain in town will all get together for breakfast at Griddy’s. This, however, didn’t use to be a thing at all up until a few years ago when Vanya managed to win her custody battle against Reginald. Now, with a thirteen-year-old Fivel in her care, the rest of them have made the conscious effort to be more… family-like, despite Five being a reclusive introvert by nature. Klaus supposes it’s nice, being in contact with the rest of his family and not just Ben, but they do tend to grate on his nerves. 

The waitress—Agnes, her name tag reads—places a large plate of steaming waffles in front of him. Klaus’ mouth waters as he pours the entire cup of syrup onto the waffles, drowning them in warm brown liquid. He stabs his fork into the stack and takes a big bite, only to look up and see both of his brothers staring at him, probably disgusted by the large quantity of syrup he’s consuming. 

“Would you like some waffles with your plate of syrup?” Ben asks snarkily, but Klaus chooses to ignore him in a favor of shoving yet another bite of waffle into his mouth. He hadn’t even finished chewing his first bite, but he’s hungry, damnit. Klaus has never been one to feel self-conscious, having more confidence in his pinky than most have in their entire body, so when he notices an older woman watching him he smiles a syrupy grin and winks.

“Jesus Christ, Klaus, I can’t take you anywhere,” Diego mutters into his cup of coffee. 

“How do you think  _ I _ feel?” Ben says, a sour look on his face. “I have to work with the guy.”

Klaus swallows his bite and takes a long sip of chocolate milk. 

“You were the one who forced me onto your payroll,” Klaus reminds him, pointing at Ben with his knife to add effect. “I was just fine collecting bottles and giving hand jobs, you know.”

“Yeah, sure.”

They fall into silence as Klaus goes back to his waffles. 

“Hey, are you two okay with taking the bus home tonight?” Diego questions and Klaus raises an eyebrow. “I’m picking Allison and Luther up from the airport.”

Allison is a successful movie director and actress living in New York, though she does make a habit of making trips back to the city to see the rest of them. Luther, who had an extremely hard time leaving Reginald’s house, finally made it out and moved to be near Allison, eventually becoming a stunt double for many of her movies. Luther and Allison were close growing up, so it was no surprise when their largest brother suddenly decided to skip town. Klaus feels relieved about it, simply because Luther is by far not his favorite sibling. 

Anyway, Luther and Allison are flying back into the city so they can celebrate their birthday together. Klaus has to say, he’s looking forward to the event, if only because he’s always looking for an excuse to throw a party. It’s been decided that Ben and Klaus will be hosting this year, which means Klaus is going to go wild on decorations and drinks. Ben set a budget for him, but such a limit is useless—they both know Klaus is going to go overboard, just like always. 

Hey, at least their parties are never boring. 

“Yeah, of course,” Ben says before Klaus can make any rude or offensive comments.

Diego nods and takes another sip of his coffee. 

After Klaus finishes his waffles, Diego kindly takes care of the bill and drives them to Ben’s Books, also known as Ben’s pride and joy. It had always been Ben’s ultimate dream to own a bookstore, which, honestly, Klaus thinks is a pretty lame dream, but who is he to talk? It’s nice that Ben at least has a dream. Klaus is pretty sure he has none. 

Klaus helps out at the bookstore every day, primarily because he has nothing else to do with his time other than drinking or partying. Wanting to break himself out of the cycle of drugs, Klaus took Ben’s offer to work with him, though he was reluctant to accept at first. Klaus has never been one for schedules, but he also knows Ben really needs the help, especially when it gets busy during the day. 

Klaus has come to enjoy the normalcy of this life. 

* * *

The day drags on by at the bookstore. It’s a Tuesday, which means it was destined to be slow, though Ben isn’t one for leaning back and relaxing on these days. Therefore, the day was mostly spent cataloging and reorganizing the store, something that Klaus considers to be like pulling teeth. He gets through it, though, like he always does, and soon they’re riding the bus home with takeout clutched in their hands. 

Ben opens the door to the apartment and goes inside, Klaus following behind. They set up in front of the TV and watch some dumb game show while they eat their dinners, Klaus shouting at the TV every time someone guesses an obvious answer wrong. Ben makes sure to shush him each time, worried about what their neighbors will think, but he does it with the remnants of a smile on his face. Soon, Ben turns in for the night, grabbing the book he’s been reading and going into his room, shutting his door with a soft click. 

Klaus eventually decides to do the same, and sets to work turning off all the lights in the apartment.

That’s when he begins to notice them. 

Shapes flicker in and out of existence around the room, their muted whispers filling his ears like the nightly breeze. Some speak to him in riddles, others skip the formalities and scream obscenities angrily, but they’re all asking for the same thing—they want help. As for what they want help with, Klaus has never been quite sure, but such is the nature of an illness like schizophrenia. Klaus has spent years learning to block these voices out, and it’s done nothing but help him in every way. He doesn’t live in fear of the strange figures, and he’s more grounded in reality. 

“Klaus,” a voice whispers, and it’s unlike the others. It stands out against the rest of the screaming and wailing, strong and kind. Familiar, even. 

Twisting the cap off of his bottle of pills, Klaus shakes two tablets into the palm of his hand. Tipping his head back, he tosses the pills into his mouth and washes them down with a glass of water. As his medicine starts to kick in, the figures begin to glitch, warping until they vanish altogether, the voices dissolving into the air like water evaporating off of the pavement. 

He gets into his bed and falls asleep to the sweet sound of silence. 


	2. Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two! This is such a fun story for me to write. I'm excited for y'all to see what I have in store.

Klaus has Wednesday mornings off, so he sleeps until he’s peacefully woken up by the daylight outside his window. 

Pleased to have a morning—or rather, afternoon—off from being rudely awoken by one of his siblings, he slowly rises out of his bed and stretches his arms over his head. With a big yawn, Klaus stumbles out of his room into the living room, taking a moment to breathe deeply and allow the calm of the moment to wash over his soul. Yeah, he thinks, it’s going to be a nice day. 

Thanks to Ben, the fridge is always stuffed to the brim with food. This is largely in part due to the fact that they often have company, whether it’s their siblings or other friends, and Ben, to his credit, is a good host. Ben is the one who offers guests water or chips and dips; Klaus is the one who whips the booze out and actually gets the party going. They’ve struck a good balance, just as they have in every other aspect of their lives, and it makes for a great time. 

So Klaus pulls the box of frozen waffles out of the freezer and cooks them in the oven. They, of course, will not be as good as the waffles he could get from Griddy’s or Mom, but when those options aren’t on the table the frozen waffles will do in a pinch. Klaus is a lot of things, but he’s not picky. 

While he waits for his waffles to get warm and golden, he grabs his bottle of pills and dumps the last three tablets into his hand. Squeezing one eye shut and bringing the mouth of the bottle up to his other eye, he laments over the fact that he’s going to have to go to the pharmacy and get a refill. Tossing the now empty bottle into the garbage, he takes the remaining three tablets and hopes it’ll tide him over until tomorrow at the latest. 

It’s become a regular part of his life, the act of battling his schizophrenia. He remembers when he was a small child, frightened by the strange, angry people he’d see all around their huge mansion. They would yell at him, scream through throat wounds and beg for him to do something for them, to save them. Of course, there was nothing he could do because the figures weren’t real—they were figments of his imagination brought to life for no other reason than to scare himself. 

The day he was diagnosed and given a prescription was one of the greatest of his entire existence. He’d spent so long without any answers, feeling isolated from his siblings, and the day after he took his first dose he’d never felt so…  _ normal.  _ Suddenly, his brothers and sisters weren’t giving him weird, confused looks anymore, and he started being able to sleep through the entire night again. 

“Klaus,” the familiar voice whispers from behind him. Klaus doesn’t bother to turn around, knowing that when he does, there’ll be nothing but an oven filled with waffles to look at. 

The pills were and continue to be Klaus’ lifeline, and he’ll hold onto that lifeline for as long as he’s able. 

* * *

There’s a small coffee shop down the street from Ben’s Books, and due to its close proximity, Klaus often finds himself there on Wednesday afternoons. However, despite his frequent trips into the shop, he’s actually not a big fan of coffee, finding any variant of the liquid to be bitter and gross tasting. In fact, were it not for the cute new barista behind the counter, Klaus probably would not have ordered this vanilla latte he has sitting on the table in front of him, very much untouched and destined to end up in the gutter outside. 

No matter how outgoing and forward Klaus is known to be, being in the presence of this extremely cute barista certainly makes him nervous—so nervous that he has yet to even learn the man’s name. He’s sure it’s something gorgeous, such as “Miles” or “Carter” or even “Logan” although he has to say, this man doesn’t quite look like a “Logan.” Still, the way the man’s curls bounce atop of his head and the twinkle in his green eyes tell him that regardless of what his name is, he’s a solid 10/10.

“This is disgusting to watch, you know,” Five’s voice cuts through Klaus’ dreamy haze. Snapping back to reality, Klaus finds Five looking at him through narrowed eyes. “Quit making googly eyes at the man and go ask him out already.”

“I can’t just ask him out, Five,” Klaus protests, to which Five rolls his eyes. “I mean, I hardly know the guy!”

He supposes it’s a weak excuse, given his history of sexual activity. His early twenties were when his drug and partying habits peaked, and he found himself going to bed with more and more people, to the point where he gave up trying to give names to the notches in his bedpost. It was a low point in his life, and it wasn’t until Ben and Diego whipped him into shape did he start to gain a better sense of stability and normalcy. 

Klaus would hope Five isn’t aware of such history, but the pointed look he’s getting from his younger brother suggests that would be a fruitless wish. 

Five may only be thirteen years old, but if it weren’t for his small size one might be inclined to think otherwise. Klaus would equate him to some sort of boy genius because despite the kid being sixteen years younger than the rest of them, he’s arguably smarter than all of his siblings combined. It likely stems from Five having to grow up rather fast when he was in Reginald’s clutches, spending his childhood alone in the mansion after his older siblings—save for Luther, of course—moved out and moved on. 

Or, maybe Five is just freakishly smart. Perhaps they’ll never truly know. What they do know, however, is that Five is really close to getting a master's degree in physics, which is a huge accomplishment in itself simply because the only other sibling to go to college was Vanya. 

“You  _ hardly know the guy _ ? Klaus, come on, you’ve been joining me here for coffee for over a month, and we both know you hate the taste of the coffee.”

Five knows him well, too well. 

“Have you ever thought maybe I just like hanging out with you, Hermano?” Klaus brings a hand to his heart, doing his best to seem as offended as possible. 

Five, as per usual, does not appear to be phased by Klaus’ act. “Please, Klaus, what do you take me for? An idiot?”

It’s unclear whether Five frequents this particular coffee shop simply for the shop itself, or if he’s consciously attempting to be closer to where Ben and Klaus are. As much as Five constantly complains about his older siblings bothering him or distracting him from his work, he has yet to make any efforts to find a new coffee shop to go to instead of this one, which would not be that hard of a task—there are multiple coffee shops all over the city, many of which are closer to Five’s college campus. Still, as much as Klaus and Ben have discussed this topic out of earshot of the little dude, neither of them have dared to question Five of his intentions, fearing they’ll drive him away. 

All of those years alone in that house did Five no favors when it comes to socially interacting with people. 

Klaus doesn’t think he’ll ever not feel guilty about that. Sure, he understands it’s not completely his fault—after all, there’s not much he could have done to get Five out of there, given that he was so young himself when Five was born and adopted by Reginald. In hindsight, perhaps he shouldn’t have been so quick to leave on their seventeenth birthday, not when Allison and Diego were already gone, and Ben was strongly considering it, but he was quickly running out of options the older he got. His father’s abuse had already taken a toll and fucked him up royally, and so he told himself then that he was too messed up to even consider being a part of Five’s early childhood years. It was a cowardly move, but back then, it was every kid for themself. 

Luckily, it’s not like that anymore; every day that passes by, they feel like an actual real family. 

“Hey, bud, I’m being serious,” Klaus says, dropping his hand and his act at the same time. He leans forward ever so slightly, reaching out to tap his fingernails against his coffee cup. “I like spending time with you. You’re like, my favorite brother.”

“Your favorite brother is Ben,” Five states matter of factly, and Klaus runs a hand through his brown curls because yeah, the kid is probably right. Again. “And after Ben, your favorite is Diego.”

“Nope, you’re wrong,” Klaus shakes his head, even though Five is one hundred percent correct. “It’s you, you’re my favorite.”

“Your attempt to try and bullshit me is pathetic, Klaus,” Five says plainly, before glancing over at the counter where Klaus' crush is currently taking an old woman’s order. “As are your excuses for not asking that guy out. Go get his number, dipshit.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” Klaus bobs his head up and down, sneaking yet another look at the barista, only to realize that the man was looking at him. The barista’s cheeks turn beet red from embarrassment, which Klaus takes as his ultimate cue to swoop in and save the day like the David Hasselhoff type he is. “Wish me luck, Five-y.”

Klaus puts on his most charming smile and moves over to the counter. He seems to have been struck with newfound casual confidence, which is why he lazily leans his body against the counter and presses his palms onto the surface of the counter, arching his back inwards. 

“Hi,” the barista smiles—oh, that smile could melt Klaus’ insides. “What would you like?”

“Hmm, let me think…” Klaus pretends to contemplate his options, his eyes lingering on the menu above the barista’s head. “I think I’ll have just your phone number, please.”

His eyes drift back down the barista’s face just in time to watch his jaw drop in surprise. 

“Oh,” the barista says breathlessly, his eyes wide and his face rosy red once more. “Yeah, I can get that for you.”

The barista grabs a napkin and a pen, jotting down his number before glancing up at Klaus once more. 

“What would be the name for this order?” the barista questions, a twinkle in his emerald green eyes as he hands Klaus the napkin. Klaus holds it carefully in his hands, not wanting to rip or even fold such a precious item. 

“Klaus,” Klaus says, wagging his eyebrows in a hopefully seductive manner. “Klaus Hargeeves.”

“Well then, Klaus Hargreeves, maybe we could… I dunno, get coffee sometime?”

“I hate coffee,” Klaus finally admits. The barista, to his credit, doesn’t seem to be surprised by his confession. 

“Yeah, I started to wonder when I kept seeing you pour your drinks into the sewers,” the barista grins. “Well, maybe we could get something other than coffee, then.”

“I’d love nothing more,” Klaus says, but then realizes he still doesn’t have the man’s name. “I’m not sure I ever caught your name, though. I’d love to know it, though.”

The barista smiles.

“It’s Kaden,” he says. “Kaden Smith.”

A line has now queued behind Klaus, and he gets the feeling he needs to move along or Kaden’s manager, who’s been eyeing them this whole time, will get onto them. So, with a tip of his non-existent hat, Klaus slinks away from the counter and goes back to the table where Five is busy scribbling equations into his notebook. 

“I got his number,” Klaus squeals as he sits back down in his chair. Five, despite being the one to push him to do this in the first place, could not seem less enthused. 

“Does this mean I’ll start getting peace and quiet around here?” Five asks, glancing up from his homework.

“No way, squirt,” Klaus says, continuing to grin from ear to ear. “If he becomes my boyfriend then I’m gonna be here  _ all the time.  _ Like, maybe even every single day!”

“Oh, goody,” Five says sarcastically before going back to his work. 

And if Klaus sees the small smile on Five’s face after he says those words, then, well. 

He’ll never tell.

* * *

When Klaus steps out of the coffee shop ten minutes later, the first thing he notes is that the afternoon is beautiful. His heart is beating steadily against his chest, and the dopey grin on his face won’t go away, regardless of how hard he tries to school his expression into something less… Joker-like. The napkin with Kaden’s number is still clutched in his hands, his grip gentle yet firm lest it slips from his fingers and blows away into the sky. 

With a skip in his step, Klaus makes his way down the street towards Ben’s Books, excited to share with his brother the exciting news of today. It’s crazy, but despite being agnostic, Klaus has the feeling that God is on his side, at least at the current moment. It’s just, he hasn’t been with anyone in a while, never able to find anyone who makes his heart race like it is right now. 

He’s so lost in his happy thoughts that when he’s right outside the bookstore, he accidentally runs into something metal. It’s a bike, Klaus realizes, as it crashes onto the pavement, a book and a bouquet of flowers tumbling out of the wicker basket attached to the front. When he glances up from the mess he’d just created, he sees a little girl in a pink sundress with a rather unimpressed look on her face. 

Which, okay, fair—Klaus  _ did  _ just bump into her bike and tip it over. 

“Oh, shit, sorry, kid,” Klaus apologizes, bending down to grab the bike, pulling it into an upright position. 

“I don’t suppose you're always knocking little girls’ bikes over, are you?” The little girl sends him a rather dirty look, which, again, Klaus probably deserves. 

“I don’t try to, no,” Klaus awkwardly cringes, handing her the handlebars of the bike, which she takes into her small hands. 

“Hmm,” the little girl raises an eyebrow, and Klaus feels like her stare is burning into his soul. “Well, it would do for you to be more aware of your surroundings, wouldn’t you think?”

“Uh, yeah,” Klaus says, rather perplexed by the way she’s speaking. For a child who can’t be over the age of ten, she speaks more eloquently than most adults he knows. Maybe she and Five could be friends.

Klaus leans down and picks the book and flowers up off of the ground.

“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” Klaus reads the title of the cover of the book aloud, instantly recognizing it as one of the books Ben is always so excited to discuss. 

“Have you read it?” The little girl tilts her head, the annoyance she’d held for him just a moment earlier gone for some reason or another. 

“Nah, I’m not big on reading,” Klaus says, placing the flowers and the book back into the basket of her bike. “But I saw the Disney movie, and that was good.”

The little girl seems to consider this answer for a second. 

“I’ve found it’s hard to find a movie that’s better than the literature it’s based on,” the little girl muses. “But I suppose it’s possible. They simply require more work to find.”

Klaus watches, dumbfounded, as the little girl climbs on her bike and pedals away, vanishing into a crowd of pedestrians. That was… peculiar. He never thought he’d come across anyone weirder than Five, but it seems his thoughts are easy to prove wrong. 

Klaus shakes off the interaction, stores it away, and bounces inside the bookstore to find Ben. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any thoughts, I'd love to read them! 
> 
> Until next time!


End file.
